This section introduces aspects that may help facilitate a better understanding of the disclosure. Accordingly, these statements are to be read in this light and are not to be understood as admissions about what is or is not prior art.
The need to weigh micro-sized particles has become prevalent. Several approaches have been used to accomplish such weighing. One approach is based on cantilever-based micro/nano-sensors which have been used extensively over the past decade to detect a wide variety of entities including bio-molecules, chemicals, viruses and cells. These sensors have been used both in static (i.e. stress sensing) and dynamic (i.e. resonating) modes. The latter mode reveals the mass of the target entity by measuring changes in the resonance frequency of the cantilever.
Current strategies of weight measurement using cantilevers mostly depend upon probabilistic attachment of the targets on the cantilever surface. For example, resonators have been used to weigh single bacteria and viruses that bind to sensor surfaces both specifically and nonspecifically. The embodiments provided in the prior art have used suspended micro-channel resonators to measure bio-molecules and single nano-particles by flowing the target entities through the inner micro-channel of a cantilever.
The nature of the cantilever-based systems of the prior art, however, render them susceptible to error. Furthermore, the probabilistic nature of target attachment reduces the repeatability of measurements of a micro-particle specimen array. In addition, when one relies on probabilistic attachment of target entities, this approach makes it challenging to weigh an individual particle specifically selected by the user from a pool of other particles whose weights are not desired.
There is, therefore an unmet need for a novel approach to weigh individual micro/nano-sized particles of varying sizes while reducing errors associated with methodologies used in the prior art.